Mass Effect:Descent into Madness
by Elusive-son96
Summary: What happens when the Reapers are gone and the galaxy is left to rebuild? There's many a possibility but in this one, one possible outcome is descent into madness. I don't own the rights to Mass Effect, all rights go to bioware. For plot purposes, the ME3 ending is going to be tweaked with a bit of headcanon. War is easy to wage, it's the rebuilding that'll test a species.
1. Prologue

_A/N: I've decided to fix this formating so that it isn't heavy on the eyes, and while I do mention this in Ch4, I'd like to mention this here as well. I'm going to change things up a bit, seeing as though with the segmented pieces I can only have so much space to work with. I've decided to instead focus on the entire timeline one story at a time, as you'll see in Ch4, if it works feel free to tell me. If it doesn't then I'll probably decide if I'll return to the segments. Either way I hope you enjoy the chapters.  
_

* * *

(Normandy): The crew of the Normandy were strapped to their safety harnesses hoping that her pilot, Joker, could outrun the beam of energy chasing them, Joker and EDI were working both tirelessly and in perfect synchronization. Joker was busy diverting non-critical power to the engines, in hopes of giving EDI the resources she required to outrun the rapidly advancing beam. Just then the Normandy began violently shaking, to and fro, EDI sputtered and gave out in her seat, her body slumped against the console. Joker sat shocked for several seconds, then realized he had a ship to pilot, but by the time he took the helm it was too late. The Normandy dropped out of its FTL course and crashed on an unknown jungle world, everyone in the crew looked around, wondering if they were safe. Joker on the other hand stood up from his chair and hobbled over to EDI's dead body, shaking her, pleading that she was alive, when no response came he cracked a tear. First his family and now the AI he grew to care and love were gone, suddenly a blue hologram appeared, resembling a familiar looking chess pawn shape. "Jeff, I'm fine, only slightly damaged but easily repairable," Joker released a tense breath of relaxation. Tali and the rest of the engineering level crew, including reporter Allers and the residential Prothean- Javik- released their harnesses and insured that the only injuries they received were minor ones. Once finished, Tali and the rest of engineering began making sure that the Normandy's core wasn't leaking any sort of hazardous material, it was mostly intact. Requiring only some time to repair minor damages. Doctor Chakwas, released her harness and began talking to the various crew members, insuring that only cuts and bruises were taken in the crash. She checked on Garrus who stood separated by a piece of broken wood impaled into the Normandy's hull. His eyes large and slightly frightened, "are you alright Garrus?" asked the doctor, trying to catch a glimpse of the Turian, she heard him struggle to his feet, "I'm fine Doc, I was just remembering how lucky I got." She squeezed through the smooth trunk of the tree, and used her Omnitool to scan for internal damage, "are you sure?" he nodded, "It's just that the violent rattling of the ship reminded me of Shepard's driving skills behind the wheel of the Mako is all."

His mandibles extended with a smile, as Doctor Chakwas let out a laugh of genuine entertainment. "Ahh Garrus, a few more like those and you might give Jeff a run for his money," after determining that everything was fine with the Turian she squeezed back through to check on Liara "I'll just remain here, calibrating the gun," was the last thing Chakwas heard before opening the door to Liara's room. Where she found the young Asari passed out on the floor, surrounded by extensive paperwork, books, and some screens, she quickly asked for some assistance. Some of the crew members quickly came to lift the Asari and carry her over to the sickbay, where Chakwas could administer proper medical care. After determining that the Asari just received minor head trauma, she began attending to the rest of the crew, Liara regained consciousness and helped Garrus find a way past the impaled tree. Afterwards she joined the rest of Shepard's companions on the CIC, Joker, relieved that his love was still safe, opened the inner airlock door and manually triggered for the outer door to slide open. He was the first to look out and gaze upon the beauty of the planet, followed by Liara, who compared the beauty to that of her bondmate. Slowly each of the crew members walked out and enjoyed a future free of the Reapers, free for them to choose.

* * *

(Earth): Soldiers from all walks of life, from Aria's mercenaries to the standard Geth Prime rejoiced in happiness, unable to contain their joy as they all watched the Reapers being engulfed in a red energy that caused them to spark and collapse, lifeless to the ground. Soldiers nearby, worried as they saw Geth fall to the ground, incapable of basic motor functions, yet still able to look around, they communicated verbally that they were within operational parameters. Within the hour, the rejoice and glow feeling that came with victory was whisked away with efforts of scouting the battlefields for survivors and the gathering of supplies, with the occasional dodging of collapsing building along with the rare instance when a piece of a Reaper or ship comes crashing into the Earth's crust.

* * *

(Thessia): Just as Earth rejoiced, so did the commandos on Thessia, each cheered and embraced one another, as siblings in arms, watching as Reaper after Reaper fell, most stayed, looking at the bittersweet victory that stood before them. Sweet in that Thessia was saved, bitter in that many Asari, non-combatants as well as commandos, were sacrificed or lost in Thessia's fall. Others began exploring the battlefields for survivors, most of Thessia remained without power, food, or water which gave way to scavenging and the occasional restart of the Asari economy. But with Thessia's E-Democracies in ruins, some ambitious and idealistic Asari are seeing this as a fresh start to Thessia, to mold them under one banner.

* * *

(Palaven): Now with the Reapers gone, the great Turian Empire can rebuild their once great Palaven, but with their hierarchy mostly destroyed, their coms, weeks away from repair, and their true primarch nowhere to be found. A great power vacuum looms over the once proud Turians, several high ranking generals have already claimed the title of primarch, which could lead to a costly war of succession. To add to Palaven's problems, their Krogan shock troopers are getting restless as supplies are getting pushed to their limit.

* * *

(Sur'Kesh): The Reaper war, having little to almost no effect on the Salarian Union, or their homeworld, has broken into political and martial friction within the Salarian leadership. Some claiming that the politicians were in the right, whereas others claim that they should've helped more in the Reaper war, regardless of choices. Both sides, while strained, have escalated to heated discussions and nothing more. But who's to say that with the Galaxy on reset mode, they'll stop experimenting, recently many within the union have approved for the secret uplifting of their neighbors, the Yahg.

* * *

(Tuchanka): With the only outlet of aggression that kept progressive idealists and staunch traditionalists in tandem with one another gone, many Krogan on both sides have turned to one another, and at the moment manage to keep the peace, but everyone on Tuchanka knows, that if their de facto leader-Urdnot Wrex, and his advisor Urdnot Grunt- don't return soon, Tuchanka will once again break into civil war. All the while Urdnot Bakara continues to rally support for a united Tuchanka, but a plan is brewing that may endanger the fragile relations within the Krogan.

* * *

(Rannoch): With the destruction of the old machines, the Geth and Quarians have spent their efforts into restoring Rannoch to its pre-morning war glory. But the blast severely hindered the Geth's motor functions, many Quarians are actively trying to repair their once powerful enemies, turned fragile allies. This lack of mobility has, however, hatched a plan among other Quarians, to return the Geth to their former positions as slaves to the Quarian people. If left unchecked, this invasion of rights may boil down to yet another war that could cost the Quarians more than just their home world.

* * *

(Omega): Aria, with Omega back under her semi-benevolent control, now plans to solidify her grip on the Terminus, in a bid to gain both power and to insure that she wouldn't be as easily dethroned, as when Cerberus managed to take Omega from her. But with Aria's power structure slightly weakened a plan is in motion to once again dethrone her from her station.

* * *

(Leviathan): The Leviathans opened their eyes, and looked at one another, the fact that they could no longer use most of their enthrallment orbs was good news for them. For they now knew that the Reapers were dead, the only thought that ran through their heads now were the restoration of their dominion. They knew it was time to show the galaxy what an apex species could do, but first they had to connect with still working orbs.

* * *

(Shepard): Shaking her head, Shepard's vision was fuzzy, she took a light breath and began passing out to the sound of still functioning Geth rummaging through the debris of the citadel. Many gathered around her, but a lone prime jogged to her, lifted her in its arms and took her to their waiting ship. She was loaded in and taken down to Earth, where she was handed off without a sound. The aids placed Shepard in a makeshift sick tent until a doctor could examine her thoroughly, until then the only medical attention she received was the occasional check up and an IV needle in her arm.


	2. Only the beginning (pt 1)

(Normandy): Everyone gathered in the semi-collapsed war room crew members came in and out repairing and replacing panels and wires. Garrus couldn't take his eyes off of Tali who nodded at Ashley's every soundless word, Garrus was promptly snapped out of his smitten stare by Ashley's muffled voice. "Uh what?" Tali playfully placed a mocking hand on her hip "ugh, Vakarian it's a miracle you've survived this long," all Garrus could do was smile an idiot's smile. Ashley on the other hand gave an attention seeking cough, "like I was saying, how damaged are our weapons systems Garrus?" Garrus thought for a couple of seconds and then he gave his report "the Thanix cannon received a few dents in the crash, but nothing serious." Tali was quick to pick up where Garrus finished "the Normandy's drive-core is fine but its protective outer shell became cracked in the crash. It should be fixed in a couple of days. Keelah, were it not for the reinforced hull we probably wouldn't of been as lucky." Everyone agreed, " **at least you don't have a tree through you** " exclaimed a very angry chess piece to which all hung their heads in respect. Ashley clapped her hands together and everyone left the war room to assist in ship repairs.

* * *

(Thessia): I cupped my hands and gathered some water from an overhead pipe that was slowly leaking large globs of water I then splashed it on my face trying to calm my nerves from the bittersweet victory against the Reapers. I took a deep breath and stood there meditating, trying to think of how easily the Reapers overtook us. I opened my eyes and whispered to myself "I guess the Asari aren't as strong as I thought we were, Godess, it was a slaughter." Just then I heard feet pushing and stepping over rubble, "Captain T'varis you in here?" I turned and yelled out my location then in came my second in command, 1st Lieutenant Vazor her normally beautiful aqua colored skin was dirtied and bruised from being in the thick of the fight. She flashed this cheesy adorable smile when she saw me. "I've been looking for you...I was wondering where'd you snuck of to?" She placed her rifle down in a nearby corner she extended her hands and we held them. My heart began to beat out of my chest as our lips were drawn closer to one another. Just then a knock was heard from the doorway we both quickly separated, "and...uh...yeah that's how my mom met my dad," I looked down at the rubble and nodded "I had no idea your father was Krogan." All the Lt. did was shrug her shoulders and nod like a cute idiot, "I can come back if you want?" I motioned for my First Sergeant to stay "what's wrong?" she pointed to the outside "we've got some civilians asking for refuge what should I tell them?" I pointed to myself, "I got this Mumi anything else you can bring up with the Lt." I looked over to Vazor and flashed her an excited smile. I retrieved my rifle and walked out of the decaying building passing my fellow commandos most were scouring the crumbling buildings for survivors and supplies while others were taking well deserved naps, some while sitting. A couple were gathering the nearby dead and wounded. I approached the makeshift fortifications and broke up the guards stopping a desperate civilian from getting in. I calmly walked the civilian back to her group and she began to desperately plead for shelter. After calming her down I explained that if they wanted shelter they would have to pull their own weight. They agreed and I allowed the group in each one thanking me as they passed by then they all immediately got to work. One of the guards looked at me, "permission to speak freely ma'am?" I nodded and she looked back at the civilians, "if the Reapers hit Thessia this hard imagine what a determined enemy could do? Especially one that could target our E-Democracies and local leadership first." I trailed off into the evening sky that was illuminated by raging fires, "yeah our society would grind to a halt," both of the guards nodded in agreement at my loud thought.

* * *

(Normandy): Liara and Javik were busy calculating how long the food in storage would last, if properly rationed, by Liara's count her and the rest of the crew would have three months worth. While Tali and Garrus would have enough for half a year. Javik placed the final box of food down and looked at Liara "Dr. T'Soni may I ask you a question?" Liara blinked and with an almost irritable face looked at Javik, "what is it?" He looked at Shepard's nameplate, resting on the mess hall table. "Why did you refuse to place the Commander's name on the wall? There's no way she could've survived that." Liara looked at the nameplate and cracked a smile that was mixed with all kinds of emotions, "she died once and that didn't stop her from coming back to me." A tear of joyful-sadness began running down her cheek as she remembered what Shepard told her.

* * *

Liara invited Shepard down to her room so that they both could escape the war and their stressful lives. They talked and drank then they both cuddled up under the sheets, almost naked and just stared at the ceiling with the occasional gift of a body kiss. Just then as Shepard was beginning to doze off Liara shifted herself up waking the commander who just watched as their eyes met. "Shepard, I have a question?" Shepard shifted her body so that she was on her side, "yeah what's up Li?" Liara looked around the room and then back to her bondmate then she shed a single tear but to Shepard it was the first drop to a rainstorm. "What if we do this and you end up gone?" Liara then began rambling about how she couldn't handle Shepard dying again. All Shepard could do to stop the rambling scientist was kiss her on her forehead, "Liara I already died once and came back to you didn't I?" Liara cracked a sad smile and nodded, Shepard then connected her forehead with Liara's "no matter what happens I'll always come back to you you're my girl...plus I kind of promised your father that no one would get near you to harm you so you know I can't do that if I'm dead." Shepard managed to get a giggle from her Asari causing Liara to scoot in closer to Shepard's embrace. "You always know how to make me believe in you don't you?" Shepard gave her a triumphant smile "well an Engineer's career is centered around reinforcement and support and you needed both." Liara's sad thoughts once again turned joyful at the thought of the two of them raising lots of little blue children, as Shepard said. Liara stared passionately into her commander's eyes, and caught Shepard off guard with a kiss on the lips.

* * *

Liara was snapped out of her memory by the fact that Javik was being summoned to the bridge Liara became curious and joined the Prothean. When they entered the bridge what they saw was something they never thought was possible. Strange life forms were gathering around the ship. Most had improvised weapons such as spears and bows, a rare few had strange rifles that made Javik's four eyes widened like dinner plates. The spearman poked the ship as if it was some animal. But what surprised the crew was the fact that they all looked exactly like Javik. When Javik and Liara saw this they were amazed. Liara weaved from window to window trying to catch a better glimpse of the life forms, "interesting it seems that these Protheans haven't seen a working ship or advanced technology in so long that they may have developed a primitive mindset." A devious smile began to cover Joker, cheek to cheek, "oh sweet sweet irony, hey Javik..." Joker was interrupted by a disappointed and semi-regretful Prothean "I know...I know, who's the primitive now." Joker was a bit disappointed that Javik took his spotlight from him but was sourly interrupted by the curious and excited tone expressed by the once bitter Prothean "but how did they get here and how did they become so..." Javik took a breathe of admitted irony "primitive." Liara made her way to the airlock with a determined fire that she hadn't had since her days as a young archaeologist, "that's what we're going to go find out." Just then the airlock closed and a blue chess piece appeared on a side mounted display "not without weapons."

* * *

(Thessia): Two of my commandos created a biotic field around a large piece of smooth granite with a troubled grunt they lifted the large piece of rubble and threw it to the side. I took that chance and ran up to a huddled up squad of commandos. They looked up at us and with smiles of joy they then extended their hands to meet ours. One by one we pulled them out and took them in as they offered to help. Then we returned to combing the field for survivors. After a while my girls and I began feeling fatigued so I ordered us back to base. I on the other hand was stopped by our only engineer left. "Ma'am, I've good news, we found a water treatment plant not too far from here. From the look of it, it still has a functional water pump." I exhaled in a defeated fashion, "but..." the engineer fiddled with her hands, "but, the floor leading to it has collapsed, the pipes leading to and from it will have to be replaced and we don't exactly know how much damage the pump has taken." I placed two fingers on the ridge of my nose and closed my eyes in defeat. "How long will it take us to get it operational?" the engineer thought for several seconds "if we jury rig the pipes, several days, the makeshift bridge is what'll take almost forever to build." She continued rambling so I motioned for her to get to the point, "two, maybe three months at least," I began to become infuriated. Causing me to take a breath and relax I then gave her the go ahead. She sped away and left me to simmer in my anger. I saw a piece of a Reaper ship nearby and I lost it. I reached for my rifle and unloaded on it while yelling that this was their fault. Even after my weapon overloaded I continued to pull the trigger as a stream of frustrated tears began running down my cheeks.


	3. Earth & Normandy

(Normandy)  
Lt. Vega along with the others down in the armory extended their faces in surprise, "Protheans!? Weren't they wiped out like 50,000 years ago!" Liara nodded as she armed and equipped her pistol and sub-machine gun. "All galactic records agree that the Protheans were wiped out," Javik holstered both his assault rifle and pistol, then with a determined face proceeded to the elevator. "If my people were truly extinct then why are they here?" He was quickly joined by Liara "that's what we're going to find out," Garrus popped an empty thermal clip from his sniper and joined the team. "I'm coming with if things go wrong you'll need Archangel to pull you out of the fire." Both squad mates rolled their eyes as the elevator shut its door and proceeded up to the CIC.

* * *

(Earth: Shepard)  
I began to open my eyes but the world was a blur. I shook my head and eventually my eyesight improved. A nurse stood at the foot of my cott and ran to get a doctor, I looked over to my left and saw a male Quarian, to my right was a female of the same race. They were mostly conscious but injured. I reached over and tapped on the male Quarian, "y...yes?" I opened my mouth but nothing came out until I forced out a sentence. "W..w...w..what name?" He held my hand in a gesture of friendship "Haale'Zazh vas Shaezay...yours?" I couldn't recall my name or who I was for a fact. Causing me to shake my head Haale nodded as if understanding my predicament. "Have you seen my shipmate, Zonna'Tafin vas Shaezay?" I turned my head towards the female Quarian then with my free hand I tapped her. She responded by jumping up startled, "h...how can I help you?" Then the male Quarian yelled out her name in excitement, suddenly the world became dark and the voices muffled. The last thing I remember seeing was a doctor rushing over to me mouthing for me to stay with him.

* * *

(Normandy)  
As the outer airlock door opened all Javik could do was try and hide his disappointed-happiness. He, along with Liara and Garrus, slowly climbed down the side of the ship and carefully approached the primitive Protheans. At first they all drew their weapons but quickly stood down when they saw Javik amongst them. One of them, the assumed leader, spoke. No one could understand him not even Javik who claimed that they were speaking a broken and slurred version of his people's language. In a moment of weakness as tears of happiness ran down Javik's cheek he touched the leader of the primitives. The eyes of the leader became large as if the secrets of the universe had been revealed to him. The leader snapped out of his trance like state and addressed the team. "You have come from the stars?" Liara nodded, "so you come seeking refuge from the demons who drove us from the stars too?" Javik stepped in, "the Reapers are gone you or I no longer have to fear them." The leader looked pensive as if trying to link the two things together "the demons have been vanquished?" The entire team nodded the primitive Prothean turned to his comrades and spoke in their language while lifting his arms out in /All of the gathered forced cheered in celebration the Prothean turned to the team "we must rejoice, celebrate! The demons are vanquished! And we may return to the stars without fear!" Javik pulled the leader aside, within earshot of the team "how did you get here?" The leader thought for a bit, then shook his head, "first we celebrate, then we talk!" Javik followed and so did the rest of the team.

* * *

(Earth: Shepard)  
I came to some time later, a doctor stood-crouched over me. He was examining some tags, "just a rank the rest is seared off." His assistant was quick to respond, "so we have a Commander Jane Doe and no one to claim her, no significant other, next of kin...nada." The crouched doctor straightened himself out and stretched, "I mean we could take her photo and place it on the found person's wall but given the operation we did not the best course of action." My body felt a bit stronger than before so I squirmed my way to my feet. The doctor assisted and were relieved to see me standing without assistance. Before anything else the doctor that was assisting me stood in front of me, "okay, I need to make sure everything is okay, okay?" I nodded then grunted in pain as the speed of it sent a sharp pain coursing through my neck. "Don't move your head too fast," he activated his omnitool and scanned me, "another thing when you came in there was a lot of shrapnel in you, and a lot of damaged skin." My eyes widened in fear but the doctor extended his hands to try and calm me. "It was more damaging than lethal to be honest but they did leave scars more than I would like." He scanned the ground with his eyes and found what he was looking for. He bent down and handed me a shattered piece of a reflective object. This revealed a seemingly strange face, I somehow knew that what was staring back at me wasn't my real face. I just couldn't recall what I really looked like, "I had to use a medi-gel and Keratin based compound, along with a few others and a makeshift clean room to completely redo your facial structure and to replace lost and damaged skin."

I touched and poked my face, "it's the best I can do until we get the local hospital working again..." the doctor talked but I couldn't pay attention. All I did was look upon a face that felt completely alien to me. Smooth caramel skin, and attractive lips did nothing to make me feel like home. The doctor then snapped me back into reality "so commander, who are you?" Just as I was going to answer a nurse pushed me out of the way and placed an injured Batarian on the cott, "search team found him barely conscious!" The doctor immediately shoved a pair of seared dog tags into my hands and then threw me out of his mind focusing solely on the Batarian. I walked back and stumbled into a pair of angry Quarians with food all over them, "hey watch where you're going lady!" I turned to the familiar male voice and helped it up, "s...sorry." The eyes inside the Quarian's mask extended in surprise, "oh it's you you're finally up Zonna and I were getting worried that you weren't ever going to wake up." I looked at him in disbelief, "I'm sorry do I know you?" he looked at me funny then they both flashed sympathetic eyes, "uh right you were probably too fatigued to hear me." He drew my attention to the female Quarian who was brushing off the food, "this is Zonna'Tafin vas Shaezay." The female copied the other's pointing gesture "and this is Haale'Zazh vas Shaezay" I then began apologizing to which they quickly forgave me. Both found piles of rubbles neatly organized into a circle. We all sat down and they began telling me tales of another female commander someone by the name of Shepard who helped them get their homeworld

That name felt hollow yet familiar, 'maybe I fought alongside her once?' I thought to myself, however my deep thoughts were quickly interrupted by the Quarians. Zonna addressed me, "so you know all about us but we don't know anything about you," I scratched the back of my head then in a nervously-shy manner I opened my palm. "Well I'm a Commander in the Alliance, if that helps." Both of the Quarians urged me to continue, "uh I think my name is Jane...Jane Doe, I think? I mean that's what the doctors called me." Both became satisfied with the progress I made. Haale extended his three fingered hand and with eyes that showed an over-joyous smile he said "well Commander Doe, it's great to meet you." I took his hand and reciprocated his gesture. We spent the next few hours talking and trying to get along.


	4. New Krogan on the Block

_I'm going to change things up a bit, seeing as though with the segmented pieces I can only have so much space to work with. I've decided to instead focus on the entire timeline one story at a time, as you'll soon see, if it works tell me, if it doesn't then I'll probably decide if I'll return to the segments. Now, let's return to the story._

* * *

The Tomkah bounced up and down throwing the contents but not the passengers in every direction. Eventually we were able to cross the small mountain rubble and emerge onto the sight of the Urdnot Clan stronghold. One of the females traveling in back stuck her head inside the cockpit. I swiped at the ornate head dress, "get out! Your stupid head is getting in my way!" she just snarled at me and continued to look on as we continued our rough descent. Eventually the mountainous rubble became a smooth incline that flattened out as we got closer and closer to solid ground. The female finally retreated her head and was thanked with my approval. Minutes later I forced the Tomkah to a jerking halt. A hatch in the ground opened and out came several Urdnot scouts, I stood up from my seat and approached the back of the Tomkah to retrieve my shotgun. Then I sprung open the door and jumped out. I heard a few scouts make fun of my old Tomkah so I walked up to them and headbutted both until they recoiled in pain, "listen you damn shit slingers this Tomkah has saved my life more times than you've bred! You disrespect her and you disrespect me!" The scouts stood up and snarled at me while pulling out their weapons, I too did the same until one of the females jumped in between us. Seeing her I immediately dropped my weapon and holstered it, the scouts were a bit more weary but lowered their weapons all the same, one of the scouts came up to me and asked why had I arrived. So I told him that I was there to see the famed Urdnot Wrex, he then told me that Wrex was stranded on Earth and they didn't know what became of him. Instead I opted to speak with his female companion, they were apprehensive. So as a sign of goodwill I handed over the few females with me on the condition that I get to see the female head of clan Urdnot with two of my bodyguards. Reluctantly the scouts allowed me to speak with the female, my two guards, along with several females emerged from the Tomkah and we all made for the hatch where the scouts came from. The door was pried open and we emerged to the rear of what looked to be a decayed throne room, a loud female krogan was surrounded by advisors, she gave them direction and purpose as to what to do and when to do it.

One of the scouts whispered my arrival to her and she then had them bring us to her. When we arrived she looked at me with distrustful eyes, "you seek council with Wrex, why?" I cleared my throat "I am Clan Leader Payak of Clan Vabakur, son of Wunar, I come to declare my service to Clan Leader Wrex of Clan Urdnot, son of Warlord Jarrod." The female looked upon me intrigued, amused, and irritated all at the same time. "If Wrex was here he would ask you what can Clan Vabakur offer to Clan Urdnot that the other clans can't?" I bowed my head in submission, something that caught the female shaman off guard. "Clan Vabakur doesn't have access to resources, nor do we hold a sacred Krogan sight, however Clan Vabakur holds what many Krogan haven't heard before in over a thousand years! We are diplomats and technicians, scientists and philosophers...we are the last enclave of ancient Krogan teachings and culture!" A few of the krogan below the thrown snickered and whispered insults, yet we held our heads high as the shaman stood at the edge of her seat. Then at the conclusion of my sentence she returned to her chair, "hmm...one would think that such a krogan clan would be a laughing stock among the others...yet you hold your heads high, why?" I looked around and took in the sight of the destroyed building, "look around you!" at that instant most of the Krogan looked around but the Shaman remained focused on me, "some here may see proud Krogan tradition...I see destruction, death, and morons who thought that using nuclear explosives on each other was a great idea!" That did not go down well with the other Krogan, some booed, others snarled, a few even felt like they had to draw their weapons on me. I straightened as much as my hump would allow me then yelled at them until they were quiet, "don't pretend like this is something to be proud of you stupid newbloods! This destruction was caused by pettiness and pride, a bunch of idiots with guns who thought that they were invincible, look what that gave us! A radioactive planet, then that same idiocy gave us the Genophage!"

A few of the Krogan saw reason, most others did not "after that, only the most bloodthirsty, the most militant, and the ones with lots of guns were left to fight over what was left of our once beautiful planet!" At this point most of my raving had finally sunk in with the Krogan present. That's when the Shaman addressed me "Vabakur Payak, your words carry the same cutting edge that one would receive from a blade, yet I still doubt that such an enclave would even exist especially here on Tuchanka." Once again I bowed my head, "yes, I know it is difficult to believe that but you must trust me, far in the mountains, past the eternal desert, through the radioactive forest lies the home of Clan Vabakur. We are few, yet Tuchanka saw to it that we never starved allowing us time to experiment and research." The Shaman raised a brow and then proceeded to question me further "what kind of experiments and research did you conduct?" I took a deep breath and thought, then raised my head to greet her eyes. Then I spoke while motioning with my hands "originally we were trying to study and cure the Genophage, but you try being a Krogan on the citadel trying to get advanced medical research equipment...C-sec and the rest of the merchants laughed us off of the station! So instead we decided to take a page out of Tuchanka and ourselves, and instead devoted ourselves to making our current equipment redundant up the tail!" The female relaxed "that would explain the working Tomkah," with a sly smile I nodded noting my clans superiority. "If you want the truth, our mechanics and technicians told me that it could theoretically take an emp the size of a relay and still sort of function...I guess in the end their theory was proven right." The female had now seen that I wasn't lying and was firmly invested in what I had to say, "hm...if I may ask, you'd need time to research redundancy systems to stop such an effect, when did you find the time to do so?"

I rubbed my crest in a thoughtful manner then spoke, "I'd say after the Krogan rebellions ended, that's about the time I took the clan and found the deepest darkest hole to set up home after the idiots sent us to hell." While she didn't show it, her eyes told me that she was surprised that I had lived as far back as the Krogan rebellions, "you were alive at the conclusion of the rebellions?" she leaned in with renewed interest. I waved away her question, "hell, I was alive even before they started," a loud gasp overcame the room, yet I continued "I was the junior representative of the Krogan people, naturally that inept Pyjak Overlord Kredak was promoted as senior representative because he was the most Alpha out of every available Krogan...much good that did us." The Shaman looked interested in my old rambling and indulged me, "so tell me Payak what would've you done?" The female gave me a question I had never received before, I closed my eyes and remembered my youth. Then after a few a seconds I returned to the present "I would've gone to Lusia and kicked every Krogan off of it then I would've began kicking krogan off of the other claimed planets. Then I would've threatened the council with releasing the colonists back onto their worlds unless they gave us at least some more worlds that they couldn't colonize." The female rested her head on her hand then ran over my theoretical maneuvering "a bold yet calculated ploy...take the Krogan away from their worlds then threaten them with those same Krogan unless they gave us more planets incapable of sustaining their races...and it might've worked too." I nodded my head, "it would've worked, I don't pick fair fights, I only pick fights that I know I'll win." The female took her head from her hand and gave me a nod of approval "Clan Leader Payak of Clan Vabakur, son of Wunar, perhaps your clan may be of use to Clan Urdnot after all, however you must prove that your clan is more than what you said...I'm sure you may know by now, but if you didn't..."

Before the female could continue I interrupted her while addressing the crowd, "a civil war is coming, it will be unavoidable, the winners will decide the fate of the Krogan...and no doubt the other Krogan are planning a preemptive strike to damage Clan Urdnot before Wrex can return." The Krogan in the chambers became outraged but the female managed to quiet them. "I see you are up to date with Krogan affairs," I shook my head, "no, I've had more than a thousand years to study the art of warfare, from the Turians to the Humans I've read every species' past involving warfare. The only logical step to defeat your enemy is to attack when they are most vulnerable and when their unifying leader is not in place to give orders is the perfect time." Suddenly one of the tunnels irrupted into gunfire, I cursed while drawing my shotgun, then I ordered my guards to rescue the females of my clan and any other that couldn't fight back. A few of the other Krogan had the same idea and traveled with them, I jumped off of the throne platform and charged at the enemy. My first shotgun volley broke through the shields of a krogan soldier, while a second volley injured the person next to him. Another krogan attempted to shotgun me in the face but unfortunately for him his body was consumed in a blue aura before being lifted off of the ground and then slammed to the floor with enough force to snap his neck. I retreated to cover and snagged an enemy shotgun, one biotic pulse later a squad of Krogan laid stunned on the floor. This allowed me to run back to the female shaman and throw her the shotgun. "Here you can handle yourself but we must make it out of here and to my Tomkah," the female looked at me as if trying to decipher a puzzle, "how do you know I can handle myself?" I squinted one of my eyes at her, while keeping watch with the other. "You wouldn't be sitting on that throne if you couldn't."


	5. A Salarian and his Brother

**A/N: This is a short chapter because there's not much to do for the set-up, so I might try to pump out another story later in the night.**

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Sur'Kesh

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I knocked on the door of my brothers' temporary residence after waiting a few minutes the doors were pried open with an omnitool, a maroon-red salarian was standing on the other side then he flashed me a quick smile. He invited me inside and we both had a drink of water, we sat down and that's when he took a quick but deep breath, "brother you're the only one I can trust, friends unreliable, parents unreliable, squadmates unreliable." Flashing him a quick look of questioning he gave in and told me why he called me, "Dalatrass' goons are everywhere I have evidence that the dalatrass was responsible for the attack on the STG base a few months back." My face turned into that of shock then after a few seconds of going over what my brother had told me I got over it and continued on as if it was old news. "But that was Cerberus not other Salarians," he nodded in confirmation, he then accessed his omnitool and played a video with audio that showed a Salarian STG being ordered by the Dalatrass to tip off Cerberus on the fact that Commander Shepard was on her way to pick up a Krogan female to create a cure for the Genophage. Once again shock, followed by acceptance of the evidence provided, after a short but awkward silence I stood up, "lot of good men died that day, friends of mine as well. Dalatrass Linron has committed treason." I closed my eyes briefly as well as taking in a deep breath, then simultaneously opened my eyes while releasing that breath, "our job as STG is to bring her to justice for every man that died because the Queen Bee didn't get her way." He nodded then he began to mess with his omnitool while trying to tell me something, however I was distracted by the pitter patter of silently rushed steps coming from the hallway. I reached for my Carnifex, my brother looked up at me with horror while holding up his arms to show he was unarmed "Fomall what are you doing!?" That was when three confused Salarians barged into the apartment. I was aligned perfectly so as to stop them from shooting my brother. I then did a 360 turn, while still keeping myself between the two parties, "why did you barge in here like that!? You ruined my cover I was very close to getting the intel the Dalatrass needed." The Salarians working for the Dalatrass were very confused. That was the window I needed to raise my arm and fire off three repetitive shots into the assailants.

I squinted my eyes and saw another one of the goons standing in the hallway, mouth agape, he realized his surroundings then raised his weapon but by that time I had already shot him in the chest. He stumbled backwards and slid down the wall with a blood trail following close behind. I frowned, "ugh, I only counted three the fourth one must've been in step with another." Following that statement I smiled, "clever," I turned back to my brother and holstered my gun "sorry about that Amann but I heard them coming and I didn't have time to tell you about it." His tense body relaxed and then he gave me a nod of forgiveness "why haven't you been tagged as a spectre candidate again?" without uttering a single word I just shrugged my shoulders. That's when he revealed to me that he was also an agent for the Shadow Broker but wasn't able to send the evidence due to the Cerberus attack and the fact that the Dalatrass' goons have been after him ever since they found out he had something that could put her in deep trouble.


	6. Two Batarians and an Asari Pt1

**A/N: Sorry about the late entry but I had to take care of some things, to make it up to everyone I'll be uploading two stories back to back. With that out of the way let's continue.**

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Omega:

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I entered the warehouse in the lower slums of Omega and met with a few other shady Batarians and their Krogan bodyguards. They gently placed a crate on the floor and popped open the lid, I reached inside and pulled out an M-100 Grenade Launcher while my associate pulled out an M-920 Cain. We both whistled at the heavy weapons before us. I turned my head up and landed both pairs of eyes on the Batarian before me "how much is this going to run us?" He looked at his partner and then huddled to talk it over, when they were done the one I talked to before addressed me. "We heard that you were trying to takedown Aria...is that right?" I tilted my head back slightly and looked at him with suspicion, "that depends on your intentions." He leaned over the crate and directed his words at my associate and me, "my employer would like to see Aria dethroned and him installed...so in other words they're free if you use them against Aria." I nodded my head as if thinking over his sentence, "and if say I wasn't and instead looking to buy for other malicious intents?" The Batarian straightened out then made calculations in his head "ten million credits...non-negotiable." My associate and I looked at one another, we placed the weapons down and turned our backs to the dealers then we made an excuse about us getting the credits from our vehicle. As we exited the warehouse Bray came by and wondered what was said, I gave him a nod and suddenly the warehouse was swarmed with Aria's personal army. Within a few minutes the two Batarian dealers emerged bloodied and beaten, Bray approached me and my associate, "nicely done Repris and Darish, a few more and we're going to find out who exactly wants to topple Aria, speaking of which she wants to see you at Afterlife." Our eyes widened in surprise but confirmed the order, since we were Aria's most effective agents she gave us access to several perks. One of those being one of the few repaired sky-cars, we entered and flew to Afterlife, when we landed we saw its large elephant doors shoved open. Several armed guards stood vigilant as the elcor bouncer decided who to let in and who not to. But given the recent rise in attempted assassinations, Coup, and the occasional armed drunkard Aria beefed up the clubs security.

The hallway into Afterlife was especially subject to this measure, where chairs and tables once stood, was replaced with makeshift turrets and scrap that was welded together and to the floor, then used as makeshift cover. We entered and saw that despite the oppressive measures, Afterlife was still partying, we walked up the stairs greeting a Human that was guarding the first platform. The doors opened and a group of Krogan bodyguards bolstered by Asari in commando leathers turned and pointed their weapons at us. They instructed us to raise our hands we did and then asked why we were there, "Aria told Bray to tell us that she wanted to see us." Aria's heels tapped down the stairs and looked at our two faces, "they're right, you know what to do," the group lowered their weapons and one of the commandos scanned us with her omnitool. When she confirmed our identities she allowed us through, "what's up Aria?" she sat down at her couch and instructed us to do the same. "It's no surprise that there is someone, and, or a group of people that want to see me dethroned...but you know this because you've brought down some of their key people...but it seems that whatever you're doing has forced their hand." Darish and I leaned back in our spots, "it seems that a number of people, human and Turian in particular have been disappearing for days at a time and then return...reports indicate that most of this activity is happening in the slums, if it's what I think it is...the person or group in charge is planning something big." The other door opened and a multispecies squad entered, "I want you two to head a little task force I've put together and I want to know where these people are going, for what reason and I want you to shut them down for good." Darish leaned forward "you want it clean and precise?" Aria did the same "I want it shut down...but if you can keep the casualties and collateral damage to a minimum I'm sure the people of Omega would be grateful...otherwise I don't care if you have to level an entire block." We both nodded, stood up, and before we descended the stairs Aria garnered my attention "oh and Repris take your team and meet up with Bray, he'll give you access to some of my own personal toys."

All four of my eyes widened in surprise, if Aria was willing to give me access to her personal armory then the situation must be really bad. As the team and I left one of the Krogan guards handed me a datapad, I stopped on the other side of the door and looked it over, reading all about the qualifications of each person in the task force:

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Nyetzea Helini:  
Species: Asari  
Bio: A decorated member of the Armali Snipers, she claims to have a confirmed kill count of 250, another 100 unconfirmed, and 50 kills with her Paladin pistol. Adept with any long range sniper rifle, though she prefers to use the M-98 Widow, she's able to pick off targets at 3,000 yards. From an early age she showed potential in becoming an adept strategist but when presented with a mock map she failed. After joining the Armali Commandos she displayed her strategic skills, having been able to mark and even correctly guess what the enemy would do next. After being asked why she failed and then succeeded in strategic planning she is credited with saying that she prefers to plan on the battlefield where she can get an accurate read. She continued on with her career even being asked to, on multiple occasions, join the Amali Ghosts, every time she refused, eventually she was issued a dishonorable discharge for being implicated in a scandal that involved her in an embezzlement ring, she denied all charges but stepped down anyways.

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Tritarum Tux:  
Species: Krogan  
Bio: The last surviving member of clan Tritarum, Tux has taken a sworn vow to join his clan after his kill count reaches a million, he claims it's to honor the million Krogan from clan Tritarum who have died in history. He swears that the only way to honor the kill count is by letting himself go beserk and charge into the enemy in what has been called the "Tritarum suicide rush." The few Krogan who still remember clan Tritarum have made it their goal to try and avoid any Krogan from said clan for fear that many of their own soldiers would perish in taking them down.

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Trebasia Fallinus:  
Species: Turian  
Bio: Like all Turians, Trebasia did her service in the military, eventually joining the Combat Engineer Corps where she excelled in demolition and infantry support. Not much else is known, all other files on Trebasia have a level of encryption normally reserved for Turian Spec-ops.

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Costol Jolzik  
Species: Salarian  
Bio: Costol was an effective intelligence operative for the Salarian STG, his hacking and decryption skills rival the best in the galaxy, upon his retirement he became an agent for the Shadow Broker, and if his claims are anything to take into account he met the Broker, Costol wasn't impressed.

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Jason & Juliet Jones  
Species: Human  
Bio: The brother sister duo who claim to be able to "MacGyver," their way out of any situation. Grew up on a Human colony and lost their parents at an early age, as a result they resorted to stealing and robbing their way in life, both have extensive police records. Including but not limited to, armed robbery, home invasion, resisting arrest, Flying while Under the Influence, building trash can robots to rob a bank.

* * *

I saved the datapad so that I could read their psychological profiles later, Darish looked at me and that was when I signaled for us to move out and meet Bray. We exited Afterlife and he came up to us then led us to Aria's personal Armory, a large triple wide warehouse hidden at a four way intersection between apartment blocks on one of the few abandoned slums in Omega. Nyetzea looked around then gave us her loud thought, "the intersection has four two man sniper teams...well hidden but they forgot to put on the lens hood." I turned back and saw her pointing to the very edge of one of the buildings, and was surprised that she caught a small reflection of light without having to squint. All four of my eyes were trying their hardest to spot the sniper team and even then I had trouble finding them. Next to her Tux was busy smelling the air, "this entire alley smells like oil and metal...probably have mechs hiding in the apartments...maybe a few Turians, I don't know, they both smell the same to me." Trebasia took offence and faked an irritated cough, "sorry sweetheart but it's the truth," she scoffed at him then ran her hand over her smooth head, "what can I expect from a Krogan." He cracked a smile and a deep guttural chuckle, "hehe, I like you, you don't take crap from anyone." She ignored him and then continued adding to the string of loud thoughts that turned into an interaction. "These buildings are really old, a few sticks of Human TNT and several minutes and I can have the appartments collapse in on themselves."

Before anyone else could enter the conversation a squad that was guarding the outside pulled apart the elephant doors and despite the warehouse's decrepit appearance, the inside was well kept. Gunships and Military grade vehicles were lined up as Humans, Asari and a large contingent of Salarians were working on the vehicles. Bray took us to a side room where we saw Ahz talking to Aria over a screen "Ahz, I don't care if your guys are overworked I want my gunships, vehicles and whatever is left of my invasion fleet working by the end of the month! I don't care if you have to conscript other people, get it finished!" Aria cut the link and allowed Ahz to release a sigh of relaxation, he then ordered a few of his men to go out and go on a recruitment drive. Bray introduced us and handed us over, "well guys Aria told me about your mission and has instructed me to supply you with whatever you needed. If you follow me I'll show you to your actual base." We followed the Salarian, one of the Humans jogged up to me and then walked at my pace. "So what's your name?" looking out of my peripheral I addressed Jason,"Repris Cabneth," I then bobbed my head up and pointed to Darish "his name is Darish Gamkaba." He didn't stop with his questions, "for a Batarian I'm surprised that neither of you haven't been calling my sister and I monkeys, or you know showing arrogance towards Humans like other Batarians have." His sister came up behind him and slapped his shoulder, he recoiled in pain and asked why she hit him. She then told him that he was being rude, without thinking I shrugged my shoulders and caught them off guard "Darish and I were officers in the Hegemony but we went AWOL when their goals and ours didn't meet eyes to eyes." They both stopped in their tracks and I felt like they were staring at me when I casually told them that my associate and I were deserters.

Then I heard them catch back up to the group and that was when Darish picked up where I left off, "Repris and I just joined so that we could get off of Khar'shan, we believed in the lies of the Hegemony...so like any other we joined up expecting to be respected and deployed to areas where you Humans would pirate our colonies, as it turns out it was the other way around." Ahz opened a sliding door and walked us down a flight of stairs, "the Hegemony told us that our military was stronger than the Turians, our economy better than the Asari, our technology more advanced than the Salarians." The entire team walked and paid attention as Darish spoke the same way we felt when we learned the truth, "we were told that Humans were pirating our supply lines and that they were simply acting like freighter captains and the such. We didn't question it because they didn't want us to question it. They told us we were a part of an elite anti-piracy group. We bought the lies, Repris was the Captain but he wasn't in charge of the operation I was his Lieutenant." Ahz then opened the door and ushered us in. He turned on the light and we were greeted with a repurposed bunker, it was painted Cerberus white with its logo etched into the floor. "Sorry about the color scheme, but this was one of the last holdouts that we managed to get back, the machines and everything should be working...my team and I prioritized it but if anything happens you know where to find us." Just like that Ahz returned to his station, Tux sat with a loud **THWOMP** on the sofa, slightly lifting it as he settled in. The Humans went over to what looked like a kitchen and raided the fridge, then they came back and before anyone had a chance to go anywhere they encouraged Darish to continue his story.

He took a bottle of water from one of the Humans, and drank some, "well, on our first raid we took the SSV Peace & Justice...we thought it a nice Irony at the time, pirates commandeering a ship with that name. When we boarded we were ordered to kill the crew and take the cargo." I stepped in to tell my side of the story, "but I wanted to commandeer the ship into a Hegemony colony and return the raided supplies, the ones in charge forbade my request and placed the both of us on scuttling duty. As we began setting up the explosives I wondered into the bridge and read the logs thinking I could find out which supply lines were hit. Repris joined me and that's when we realized that we were the pirates." All but the Krogan was left speechless, he broke the silence "did you find anything worth taking?" Everyone but Darish and I looked at him with a bit of hate, "just some medical supplies and rations..." the Krogan scoffed it off and allowed me to continue my story. "When we realized what had happened it shook our belief in the Hegemony but it didn't break it, we continued with orders, and it wasn't until a year later did we become disillusioned with our supposedly perfect government. Long story short they ordered us to burn an entire colony to ground, we vented everything but bridge, dumped the bodies into the void and made our way to the Terminus...we've been working for Aria ever since." Everyone looked both impressed and disappointed at the ending but let it slip, Trebasia and Nyetzea found the armory and wrote a list on what we had, Costol found the computer bay and began working on his own thing while Tux and the Humans conversed at length about crimes and the best way to commit them. Darish and I sat at a rounded table and discussed where to begin. That was before I pulled out the datapad and read the newest message on it, 'Ahz reported that you were at base, enclosed is the information we ascertained from the two arms dealers.' I slid it over to Darish so that he could look at it first while I became lost in my thoughts.


	7. Loyalty, For Better or Worse

**A/N: This was one of the longer chapters, but I did it anyways because it wouldn't feel right otherwise.**

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Palaven:

I looked up from my tactical map and to the world around me, in the distance I could see several Sovereign-class Reapers decimating the front lines, slowly but surely making their way to our position. One of the soldiers guarding the room spoke freely without even realizing it, "why in the spirits are we sitting here doing nothing while the rest of our forces are getting slaughtered." He had a point, but the orders were as clear as the fires raging across Palaven 'protect Palaven Command at all costs,' one of the communications officers paged me on my Omnitool, they were carrying an important message. "Sir, Primarch Victus is on the QEC, he wishes to speak with you it is of the utmost importance!" I took one last view at the map and at the distant Reapers, then made my way to the communications hub. As the door opened everyone stood at attention but I gave them the order to return to their duties. Then the communications officer placed me in a direct call with the Primarch, I saluted him and he did the same, "Maxiius, my old friend...how are you guys holding up?" I took a deep breath and plopped my face into my hand, "Not good Victus, we're coordinating planetary as well intersolar counter attacks on every front, as it is now we're understaffed and undermanned...without fleet support I don't know if we'll be able to hold out. Even with this Human United Front the Reapers will be at commands front door by the end of the week...if we're that lucky." He sensed my disparity and tried to place me at ease "don't worry Commander Shepard and the rest of the forces will be preparing their final push now, hold on as long as you can...I can promise you that I'm not dying until I step foot on Palaven once more." Before I could respond the alert sounded, Victus tried to get me to tell him what was happening but all I could do was reach for my Phaeston then leave him with a single sentence "we'll do whatever we can...stay alive, Palaven needs you!" The communications officer cut the feed and asked for orders, I told them to stay put, continue their coordination and to shoot anything that even remotely looks like a Reaper. Then I jogged out of the room and joined a steady stream of soldiers and anyone who could hold a gun.

We poured into the courtyard and watched as the sentries on the walls unloaded into reaper forces from the turret emplacements. As I strode up the ramp and to the wall, I commanded forces to reinforce the front gate for them to take anything they could find and use it as cover should the gate fall. When I made my way to the top my mandible dropped, several Harvesters towered over legions of Husks, Cannibals, and Marauders. The wall defenders unloaded into them but whenever one would fall four would take its place. The defenders were panicking bumping into each other as chaos began to creep its way into our normally disciplined ranks. I grabbed one of the troopers by the opening of his armor and asked him where his commanding officer was. He pointed to a slumped over body riddled with bullets, I moved down the chain of command to his executive officer and he pointed to a Turian with a balled up body rocking himself back and forth. I ran up to him letting loose a salvo of shots as I did. Then I got down to his level and all I could hear him whisper was for someone to make it stop. I attempted to gain his attention but it wasn't of any use so I did the only thing I could think of. I put my hands on the edges of his armor, dragged him to his feet, and tossed him to the side. He looked up at me as he landed with a loud **clang**. He got to his feet and was angry as to my decision to treat him harshly, I walked up to his face and stared him down "the Reapers broke your spirit to fight, I was helping you regain it." My words rang true though he didn't say it, after a few seconds he gave me a salute "Lieutenant Prilus Alrinus of the Civilian Conscript Corps, Cipritine Platoon, at your service!" I nodded and realized that was the reason why chaos was entering our ranks, I had placed the Civilian Corps to man the walls while the real troops fought on the front line.

A volley of bullets connected and disabled both of our shields so we took some cover and returned fire, "Lieutenant I want you to set up what's left of your platoon in three ranks across as much of the wall as you can. All ranks will kneel, one by one they'll stand and shoot until their thermal clip empties, they'll kneel once more and then repeat the process, get it done!" He nodded and began giving the orders but no one moved. They were all too panicked to do much so he and I silently agreed that it was up to us to set the example. He commandeered a squad and quickly set them up, I along with the first rank kneeled behind the elevated guard rail while he remained in the back of the ranks to oversee the execution. I gave the order for a full reload and then the order to fire, secretly hoping that it would work, and as hoped the bullets began to mow down a few squads of unaware Reapers. When our weapons overheated the second rank stood and opened fire as we kneeled, then the third and final rank copied. Slowly but surely those around saw the effectiveness of the tactic I borrowed from the Humans and chose to join us. The non-commissioned officers began commanding where each soldier should go and before long the chaos that would've cost us the wall was quickly disappearing, each stood focused on gunning down as many reapers as they could. Occasionally the Reapers would send Banshees and Brutes but the reinvigorated troops would focus fire and eliminate them before they even had a chance to do serious damage. Despite losses the boys and girls on the walls held their own, where one would fall another would quickly shove them off of the platform and take their spot. It wasn't until two of the Harvesters took flight and entered the base did things really start to get bad. I ordered the Lieutenant to keep his men firing and to not allow them to break ranks.

I hopped off of the platform only to be pinned down by the enormous creature above me, I had thought I was dead but the creature ignored me and instead went for the forces in the courtyard that were firing at it. The second Harvester landed behind the forces and they began to overwhelm them, that was when I sprung into action. Looking for my Pheaston I found it far out of my reach, I prayed to the spirits and then reached to my calf and pulled out my family's ancestral blade, which was just a long dagger. The last time it was used was during the Relay 314 incident where my father used it when he had lost his weapon, now I was using it to try and kill a Harvester. I slashed at its underbelly and it recoiled in pain, I held the knife close to me then rolled from under the creature as it flopped itself onto the floor in an effort to smush whatever caused its pain. When it arose it looked under itself and presented the perfect target. Without thinking about the stupidity of my actions I charged and jumped, then I stuck my talons into its neck as it screamed in pain. But I dug them in further until I had a tight iron grip on the Harvester, then I used my armed hand to tear into the creature wherever I could. It bucked its head sporadically trying to make it impossible for me to stab it any more but I used its own momentum against it and would ride it out until my dagger punched more holes in the creature's skin. Eventually it got frustrated and flapped its wings, preparing itself to take off, in one last desperate attempt I shoved my dagger into a large disk that connected all of the harvesters wires and circuits. It wailed in pain as I removed my dagger and jumped off before a bright light engulfed the courtyard. Luckily my armor broke my fall, without taking a second to recover I sheathed the dagger and ran for my Phaeston when I finally got to it I rallied any forces that were trying to retreat inside and we focused fire with any and all modded ammo we had at our disposal.

It wailed one last time as it too exploded and sent a few of my men flying everywhere. I commanded for anyone who wasn't injured to return to their positions while at the same time anyone who was injured but still capable to gather their comrades, both dead and alive, and to head inside to get patched. I turned and saw reserve forces looking to me like a hero, I raised my weapon in the air and yelled at the top of my lungs " **LET PALAVEN KNOW THAT WE FOUGHT TO THE BITTER END**." The reserve forces released a yell that raised the morale around them, a few of the reserve forces took it upon themselves to act as relays for my words and soon began yelling it and turning the Civilian Corps into a force that even I would be wary of attacking head on. A messenger came running down and reported what I feared, the front lines had been broken and were beating a hasty retreat to Palaven Command, I told her to arm everyone, just then a red light engulfed the sky. For a moment both my forces and the Reapers were at a cease fire as we looked on at awe at what was unfolding. The messenger and I ran up the ramp to get a better view and everyone was stunned to see the multitude of Reaper ships collapse to the ground lifeless. As the light continued across the face of Palaven many of the men assumed the worst and ducked behind cover, myself included, but it passed over us without killing. So when we raised our heads only to find that the endless hoards of Reaper forces were gone we dropped to our knees and thanked whatever higher power existed for allowing us to live to see ourselves prosper once more. Many of us smiled freely for the first time in a very long while, mines was short lived. I got up to my feet and ran to the communications hub, when I entered I saw technicians trying to figure out what was wrong. They were trying to figure out why the computers had stopped working, I put the two things together and realized that what had killed the reapers was a powerful EMP.

One of the officers in the room looked to me for guidance, I straightened up, propped up my rifle against a desk "ladies and gentlemen...the Reapers are dead and we are free to live in peace." The room was jubilant, but one of the other officers realized something else, "sir, does this mean that Primarch Victus is dead?" I pondered that same question, going as long as a minute without answering but I had a duty to the people of Palaven so I shook that idea out of my head. "Until we can get long range communications active again we're not going to assume anything...as far as we're concerned Primarch Victus is alive and kicking just stranded in friendly territory." They all nodded in assurance, without a second to waste I had them run messages to everywhere inside command, 'the Reapers are dead and we must rebuild.' Days passed and anyone who couldn't work on repairs were transferred to where they were needed. The two main ones were search and rescue, and food production.

Within months the technicians were able to fix a few short range radios, enough for us to send scouting parties ahead of search and rescue. On one such day while I was organizing the accommodations of a group of civilians and injured soldiers I was hailed on my omni-tool, "sir one of the scouting parties is sending back a priority message, your presence is required in the hub." I confirmed and left the rest of the work to Lieutenant Alrinus, when I sprinted into the room they had activated the broadcast, "-party one to Command we've got eyes on a firefight, I say again we've stumbled upon a firefight, please advise." I moved the radio operator aside as a short crowd gathered behind me, "scouting party one, this is General Mercaculus on behalf of Command...can you tell us the composition...is it Krogan and Turian?" When I removed my finger off of the broadcast button they immediately responded "negative sir, it's two Turian sized platoons fighting..." everyone in the room, myself included gasped at what the scouts were implying but they continued "we sent two of our own to investigate each side...wait they're coming back...standby." Just like that they were finished broadcasting, some of the operators began to panic at the implications others rationalized the situation away as organized looters, rioters, and raiders. Then the radio came back to life "scouting party one to command, come in command, this is scouting party one..." without thinking I confirmed our presence on the frequency and let them continue. However the radio operator sounded a bit choked up, "uhm...command we don't know how to tell you this...b-but...we have a strong belief that these two platoons are in fact splinter forces from the main military." They halted from explaining anymore and allowed us to digest the information, I heard confused comments as well as disillusioned ones, then I pressed them to continue, "well sir, our scouts said that each force is under the command of two Primarchs fighting over land." All of our jaws dropped at the mention of the word two and Primarchs in the same sentence, "I'm sorry scouting party one...but did you just say two Primarchs?" They answered it with a brief affirmation and left me to deal with the endless questions from my own forces.

After taking some time to answer and calm their concerns I returned to the radio, "Scouting party one, this is command, do you copy? I say again this is command to scouting party one are you listening?" They built the tension up as they went without answer for a long minute, "sorry command we had to go radio silent...contact forces were passing by..." We all let our breaths go simultaneously and I pressed them for answers as to who was in charge of each platoon. However they weren't able to tell me for certain, only that the two fighting sides were fighting for what were the bombed out ruins of a market. Before I could do anything else I ordered them to return to base, then I ordered every radio operator to bring back all of our forces with whomever they found. After some time, when we confirmed that all of our forces were back home I had as many as could fit, assembled in the courtyard, many more stood watching from the walled perimeter. Even more trying to hear from the far back Command building, I took a deep breath and straightened up "my brothers and sisters in arms, I'm more than sure that you've all heard the rumors that there are two Primarchs out there..." Before continuing the entire place broke out into murmurs that were either confused or certain, I held out my arms and in a few seconds the murmurs had quieted down, "yes they are true...one of our scouting parties encountered two self-proclaimed Primarchs fighting over the remains of a bombed out market." The quiet crowd broke into loud disbelief but I once again controlled their reactions, "however we will not flock to either banner because Palaven cannot have two Primarchs...and as far as I'm concerned there is only one Primarch and his name is Adrien Victus!" Most of the crowd broke into applause but a few were visibly hurt that I didn't proclaim myself as much. That's when a rocket shook the wall and knocked a few men off of it, "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" proclaimed one of the wall sentries, then everyone scrambled either for a weapon or for cover.

Lieutenant Alrinus tossed me my Pheaston and we both charged up the wall to see what was assaulting us, I was stunned to find us being assaulted by what looked to be a Battalion of men. Each one crying out that they would die for their commanding officer, also a self proclaimed Primarch. With them they brought a huge siege engine, a battering ram made of scrap metal and construction machinery. It took us hours but we repelled their attack, with moderate losses, as they retreated we continued to open up salvo after salvo until we were sure that they were gone. Then I gathered my own Battalion of men and we went out of the gate to secure the perimeter.

As me and a three man squad krept through the forest, constantly keeping radio contact with the rest of the Battalion, I felt the unmistakeable touch of a sharp blade. I ordered the squad to hold their position and they too tightened up when they felt a blade on their throats, "can we at least see you before you slit our throats?" The figures uncloaked and I was met with the eyes of a female, "before we slit your throats can we know who we're killing?" I accepted my rapidly approaching fate with honor, "I'm General Maxiius Mercaculus with Palaven Command...you?" Her eyes widened in surprise but then quickly focused back on me, "who's the Primarch?" Looking at her oddly but in no condition to say anything else I responded "Primarch Adrien Victus," her strong demeanor went to relaxed in seconds, she sheathed her knife much to the perplexion of her men. "Friendlies people! We have friendlies!" she yelled into the forest, then my eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I saw a Brigade sized force move inland from the forest. If I was speechless my own squad was terrified, if they weren't with us we would've died without knowing how many enemies there truly were. The female Turian saluted me, "sorry about that sir...I'll gladly accept a court martial, Brigadier General Equia Doniscus reporting for duty!" I returned the salute and told the operator to radio to headquarters that we had a Brigade sized force heading their way, then I personally called for the Battalion to return home. Her squad and my squad merged together as we talked, "so Brigadier Doniscus are all of these your men?" She both shook and nodded her head, "most are my men, we picked up others on the way here," I raised my brow-ridge. Letting her know that I wanted to know what kind of forces she picked up on the way, "we've got some Spec Ops teams, a couple of Engineers, some Blackwatch, an entire platoon of marines...oh! and we also found one or two squads of Cabals."

My brows were raised as she nonchalantly listed off the many invaluable assets she had 'picked up.' When we entered base I was greeted by the Lieutenant who had shown remarkable skills with leadership, "sir...we're over capacity as it is...we don't have room for anyone more...spirits! we had none to begin with!" I calmed him and let him know that I would take care of it, but he stressed himself out over it. I called over Equia and told her the situation, she then told me that if we could set up tents outside her forces would be more than willing to sleep there, it was a temporary solution but the only one in sight so I had a few civilians pulled off of the wall and assist Equia's forces in building the makeshift rooms. Then I had her follow me to the roof and we talked there, seeing as how my office was turned into a bunkroom. "What do you wish to know sir?" I cut straight to the chase and told her about the Primarch situation and she in turn told me that she already knew of it. She then explained about how she saw the base being assaulted but didn't take action for fear that we had also switched allegiances but regretted it when she found out that we hadn't. I forgave her and she told me about the two main players in our area, "There's General Casvus Camnian leader of the renamed Inner Cipritine Primacy and General Cassius Sabelius leader of the Outer Cipritine Primacy. Both are openly hostile to each other and anyone who doesn't flock to their banner, both command forces the size of a field army. While Cassius has Casvus surrounded in terms of land, Casvus is using the underground transportation system to ship in troops, supplies, and to take any land he can get. Cassius is having no luck in trying to plug up his exit routes but they both want Palaven Command because they know that if they can get command then they can legitimize their title and have civilian support."

As we both leaned over the rail I nodded in understanding, "then we'll do everything in our power to make sure that doesn't happen." She leaned in next to me, "what are we going to do sir?" I looked out into the forest, then at the small towns that surrounded command, then squinted my eyes and made out the smoking rubble that was Cipritine, our capitol. "We're going to beat them at their own game," she cracked a smile and stood at attention, giving me a salute, "sir, my forces stand ready to assist in anyway they can!" I returned her gesture "we'll need em General Doniscus! Tell your men to rest, we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow!" she confirmed my orders and left in a light jog.


End file.
